A GOP senator brushed off suggestions that President Trump should be impeached for asking China and Ukraine to investigate allegations of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama appeared on ABC News’s This Week with host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday to discuss Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Stephanopoulos asked Shelby about statements Trump made in October, calling on China and Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
“Those were just statements political. They make them all the time,” Shelby said.
The host pressed Shelby on whether he was trying to excuse Trump’s statement, and the Republican replied: “I didn’t say it was OK. I said people make them. People do things. Things happen.”
Shelby added: “The president of the United States is human, and he’s going to make mistakes of judgment and everything else. They have historically, both parties, from the beginning of our republic.”
Hunter Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father worked in the Obama administration and oversaw U.S. policy as it relates to Ukraine. Allegations of corruption have swirled around both Bidens since Joe Biden announced his run for president. The younger Biden has admitted that taking the job in Ukraine was a “mistake” and showed “poor judgment” but insisted nothing was improper.
Hunter Biden has also denied allegations that he took payments from Chinese businessmen trying to buy influence with the then-vice president. He rode on Air Force Two with his father on an official trip to China, and while the vice president met with Chinese dignitaries, he met with a Chinese banker about forming a Chinese private equity fund.
Trump told reporters in October that China and Ukraine should investigate allegations that Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings may have allowed foreign officials and businesses to try to buy influence with the Obama administration.
“If they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into Bidens,” Trump said. “It’s a very simple answer. And by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as Ukraine.”
Shelby joins several Republican lawmakers who have scolded Trump for the request.
